I'm from central Iowa and I'd like to find some new people to explore with, I normally take one of my photographer friends but I also want to meet new people through this hobby. Hit me up if you're any where in Iowa!

Checking in from Iowa City! Great to hear another Iowan on here. Message me if you want to talk.

I'm originally from Dubuque. There's abandoned mines in that region, if underground stuff interests you.

Abandoned buildings exist in Iowa, but most of the good ones are long gone. It's a shame you guys missed out on Sioux City's KD Station, Waterloo's ammunition plant, and most of the flood devastation in Cedar Rapids.

Likewise in IC. I saw some of the flood ruins in CR a couple of years back, just wasn't photographing much at the time. That was weird stuff, man.

I know it's not anything ~big and exciting~ but I have a great love of sifting through the back roads, looking for derelict homesteads. We should all hang out or something some time when it's warmer...ish. Like mostly not next weekend when I have 3k books to go pack up and move, apparently. >.>

It'd be great to meet up with you two from, Iowa City sometime this spring! I'm from Boone, about 10 minutes west of Ames, and there's some cool places around here if you ever head this way for anything..

I'd also like to find some more information about the mines in Dubuque, Clockwork.

Speaki of farmsteads and central Iowa, when I was in college in 1999 I remember driving around an area just outside Boxholm, probably just east of it, where a slight majority of the farmsteads were abandoned at the time. That may or may not have changed in the 15 years since then, but just a heads up that at the time it seemed to be the place with the greatest concentration of abandoned farmsteads outside of Van Buren County, where I remember seeing them fucking everywhere.

Posted by Slim Jim Speaki of farmsteads and central Iowa, when I was in college in 1999 I remember driving around an area just outside Boxholm, probably just east of it,

A lot of the old farmsteads got burned and bulldozed when land prices went ballistic about 5 years ago.

Most of the time I'm in West Central Iowa, but travel a lot for business.

Someone new in Des Moines might find something interesting if they keep their eyes open.

My trip Saturday is actually taking me through Boxholm so I'll take a look for any remaining houses over that way even though they're probably gone.

Southeast Iowa here.

Iowa City here

It's sweet to have even a few people popping in from Iowa! I'm not sure when or where but once the snow melts we'll have a blast!

Oh my...

They're talking about closing the Clarinda Treatment Center

http://www.kmaland...-cb14dfe7f334.html

A little background on the place.

http://www.kirkbri...uildings/clarinda/

Posted by Radio2600 Oh my... They're talking about closing the Clarinda Treatment Center http://www.kmaland...-cb14dfe7f334.html A little background on the place. http://www.kirkbri...uildings/clarinda/

...God Branstad is a tosser. That's definitely a cool building, though. Maybe it will get abandoned and then they will make a corn-fed Midwesty version of Session 9. That would amuse me greatly.

Now that I think about it, there was only a few mental hospitals in Iowa that went abandoned. Extemporaneously, the only ones I can think of are the ones in Boone and Iowa City.

All the others that were closed, got repurposed. Like the one near Fort Dodge is now a religious school and the one near State Center that is now the Marshall County Jail.

Cedar Rapidian, but not an active explorer anymore now that my favorite spots have been razed in flood recovery efforts after 08. I rarely get on here anymore, but I'm really surprised by how many Iowans are on here now. I'd say we should try for a summer meet up, but I really can't think of any locations that are meet up or road trip worthy. I guess there are the cluster of churches south of Des Moines?

Posted by emilyONION Cedar Rapidian, but not an active explorer anymore now that my favorite spots have been razed in flood recovery efforts after 08. I rarely get on here anymore, but I'm really surprised by how many Iowans are on here now. I'd say we should try for a summer meet up, but I really can't think of any locations that are meet up or road trip worthy. I guess there are the cluster of churches south of Des Moines?

Anyone know of any ghost towns?

Hey, I don't know if many people are still looking at this but i recently explored a sweet place in Waterloo, IA. It's an old Greyhound racing park between Waterloo and cedar falls. Zero security and plenty of places to explore. I didn't bring my camera with me but luckily my buddy had his iphone so i snapped some pictures. Wanted to post 'em up here for you all.
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Posted by IceBurgess Anyone know of any ghost towns?

Not from what I've seen in the last three years of aimlessly roaming the gravel. I don't think we get them out here, like in old timey westerns or the one that's preserved out in Cali. Plus, biofuel is too dam valuable right now. Any significant tracts of land that weren't being used or exclusively owned by a stubborn private party would be bulldozed to plant, I should think.

Posted by crows Not from what I've seen in the last three years of aimlessly roaming the gravel. I don't think we get them out here, like in old timey westerns or the one that's preserved out in Cali. Plus, biofuel is too dam valuable right now. Any significant tracts of land that weren't being used or exclusively owned by a stubborn private party would be bulldozed to plant, I should think.

Ah, makes sense. In that case, does anyone know of any abandoned factories, or other large-to-massive forsaken buildings in our state? If a meeting is on the agenda, an abandoned country shack probably won't do.

Posted by IceBurgess Ah, makes sense. In that case, does anyone know of any abandoned factories, or other large-to-massive forsaken buildings in our state? If a meeting is on the agenda, an abandoned country shack probably won't do.

I've got somewhat of a ghost town I thought about for a meetup, or else I have been think of some other places as I have been working with the guy that runs the "Abandoned Iowa" Facebook Page. I have permission to a lot of places in Beaver, Iowa. There's the school and a block of houses, and a collapsing service garage. That location is west of Boone, then in Boone I know of a church camp, and a bunch of railway cars. I was thinking central Iowa would be ideal, but i'm open to ideas. Unfortunately the Luther school 15 minutes from Boone was torn down last weekend, so that's out of the idea. I've also heard that in Adel, Iowa Spring Manufacturing is abandoned, so it'd be a larger place. Another large place I can think of is the brick factory near Lehigh, or maybe the North End Diner and Best Western in Johnston.

Either way I've been thinking about planning a meetup for April or May one weekend. If anybody wanted to do a two day thing I could get permission to camp in the railcars (Or I'm assuming I could... I already have a key to the property) or even the camp, and maybe do like the brick factory and Beaver one day, then we could come to Boone, grab the church camp and sleep at the abandoned railcars, then head to something in the DM area like Best Western or the Spring Manufacturer. But maybe a one day thing would be better then we'd still have places to choose from if we have a 2nd meetup.

Part of the railyard


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Beaver School